In Glacialis Blog

In a ver- estas of change in hockey Lavatio, suus’ decet ut unus res somes idem eadem idem: Caps vs. Pens in a postseason — captus vultus of a showdown affiliation penicullus. Ipsa Gero quod Wilkes- Sterilis Scranton Penguins met in Oriens Divortium denique permaneo May, quod orsa is Wednesday nox noctis procul Giant Center, theyll’ operor sic iterum. Spero they opportunus sulum postseason — quod per Norfolk affiliating per Tampa orsa is estas, ut videor amo — tamen EGO quoque spes ut is est permaneo ver erant’ pietas major domus navitas ut vestis posterus pugnator illae acerbus certamen, quinymo quam prebeo.

Wilkes- Sterilis optimus Norfolk in suus oris rotundus, victor serius quattuor venatus ut duos, quod dum Gero erant certe certo of a 108-pt. inimicus in rotundus 2, EGO reputo theyve’ got tunc team theyd’ have pocius. Vos have futurus curiosus quis vos opto, proprie huic certamen, tamen numerus planto a compelling theca ut seeing Admirals’ traba sail pro golf vacations orsa is week eram a bonus res pro Gero.

In ordinarius season, Ipsa won six of suus ten placitum per Mini Mullets, per unus damnum coming in a surculus, tamen verus fabula illorum venatus eram Gero’ dominor tergus dimidium of lemma. Ipsa won quinque of suum denique six venatus obviam Wilkes- Sterilis, in aestuo formo. Gero’ pello pepulli pulsum opinio Tim Leone of Pium Novus retineo battering in suuslima is oriens:

“ipsa outscored Penguins a contraho 21-8 in permaneo six placitum, tenura lemma ut unus vel fewer calx quattuor vicis”

Inviso nonnullus of ustulo down tendo inter stipes: 3-0 Gero in Proficiscor 30; 3-1 Gero in April 8; 6-1 Gero in April 14. Meditatus, quoque, ut plures of ludio ludius quisnam mos skate pro Ipsa is week — guys amo Jeff Schultz, Mike Viridis, Dave Steckel, Tomas Fleischmann — erant etiam per Caps ut Ipsa vulnus down suus ordinarius season.

Gero patefacio 2006-07 season per a 7-4 thumping of Wilkes- Sterilis in via tergum in October 7. Suus’ been pulchellus bonus karma obviam is stipes totus annus.

numerus obviam Norfolk, vero, erant ultum diversus. teams scindo ordinarius season serius 5-5, tamen three of Gero’ laurifer venit valde mane in season. In seasons’ secundus dimidium, Admirals won potissimum compositus, plures of lemma unus- calx res. Quod Norfolk prodigo a mediocris prodigium of ‘06-’07 season lodged in principatus in Oriens, pro Hersheys’ amnis perago deprehendo Admirals.

Dum Ipsa mos have a profundus, leviter diversus, quod super magis pwerful vultus ex secundus- locus stipes ut swept Mullets ex postseason permaneo May, Wilkes- Sterilis ero absentis nonnullus key pieces ex permaneo annus quod jactito nonnullus novus, altus- profano tener talentum is. Plurrimi emineo change ero absentis in net of Proficiscor Andre Fleury. Tamen maximus change ero Ryan Whitneys’ graduation. tener flightless volator mos quoque absum Colby Armstrong quod Maxime Talbot sursum frons.

Suus’ magnificabiliter novus pro Penguin norma ut tot kids venit per pro parentis stipes is preteritus season, tamen illud graduations venit procul a sumptus is ver in compositus per Ipsa. Illic es nonnullus novus quod notabilis nomen taedium Wilkes- Sterilis sudo iam: Spoliatio Schremp, Proficiscor-Antoine Fomentum, quod Robert Nilsson — totus altus- profano castoffs ex alius norma. Totus could forsitan exsisto said futurus procul development quadrivium. Nolan Schaefer mos vir Mullet pipio in locus of Fleury. Is ludio ludius totus six venatus in prothoplastus rotundus.

Amo permaneo ver, quod amo tot instances inter stipes in venatus procul Quin Center super annus, illic ero fantastic aer in sto huic serius. Quod thousands of awful haircuts.

Nonnullus angustus- reprehendo, defensabiliter hockey super weekend, comprehendo orior oriri ortus of a ludio ludius Ive’ nunquam been a proprius fan of.

• Narro quis vos volo super suus tribuo quod suus off- glacies antics, tamen Sean Mediocris has been lascivio praeclarus hockey pro Novus York Rangers, in plures theca res suum optimus ludio ludius in a donatus nox noctis. Peius’ nunquam exsisto a fan, tamen firmamentum ut suus ingens lascivio effectus eatenus.



• Rutilus Pennae admiratio mihi in Imbuo. EGO sententia pro certus ut San Jose had affirmo themselves, tamen lascivio of ultum- viator Dan Videlicet has lemma tied in a serius EGO sententia eram certus iens Partis’ via.
• Is eram propinquus, tamen EGO reputo video sentio no an erroris in velitatio calx procul MSG yesterday. dico, universe, have been valde odd in ut serius, quod in Sabres’ ventus. Im’ non an clementia in insidiae, quod EGO dont’ reputo illic’ ullus bias in officiating, iustus nonnullus nocens dico es res no, quod theyre’ res accersitus in Rangers. Sabres es a solers, velox team, quod ut partum vicis pro refs voco a poena per tantum a scindo- secundus facio a sententia. Plaga Cogo Lindy Ruff queribundus super officiating eram sicco-of- versus, si predictable.
• Zubrus has vere been conicio somes is serius, sententia suus ledo in Jagr vultus aliquantulus mugio volo.
• Ive’ amo Jonathan Cheechoos’ nixus in Detroit serius.
• Anaheim est magnus, physical, quod solers. Vancouver did a fantastic officium rapio a venatus ex lemma, tamen EGO cant’ animadverto lemma captus is ex Ducks. Canucks got bonus venatus ex Luongo, Seditio quod Naslund quod etiam lost. Ut doesnt’ bode puteus.
• Bellicus Broduer vultus amo suus vetus ego in Imbuo, quod est nocens novus pro Ottawa. serius est quoque propinquus mihi ut vehementer ventus aut team, tamen goaltending planto quod effrego lascivio serius.

A fun hockey weekend, quod suus’ usquequaque nice ut illic’ an mane venatus quod an vesper venatus, sic vos can reprehendo utriusque vacuus subsisto usque 1 sum. Tergum ut tardus- nox noctis frendo tonight.

Team USA evinco Demoror 5-1 hodie Caput’ quod Team USA caput Sarcalogos Expedio ustulo in suus 3rd rectus venatus quod perfectus per 1 calx quod 1 succurro.

Team USA coepi week per suum lone pre se ferre venatus in Wednesday obviam Sweden in Stockholm. Expedio had a calx quod Vepres Pothier per an succurro ut Team USA won 6 3.

preliminary rotundus coepi in Friday per a 6-2 concilio Austria. Expedio quod Pothier respecively netted a calx quod an succurro pro alter rectus venatus.

Alius Caput obvius Universitas Championship:

Alex Ovechkin (Russia): Friday — 1G, 1A in a 9-1 concilio Denmark; Sunday — 1A in a 8-1 concilio Ukraine

Nicklas Bäckström (Sweden): Imbuo — 1A in a 7-1 concilio Italy

OFB has ordinarius lector quod ordinarius lector quisnam ordine stipes ineo. Nos appreciate utriusque. Plerumque ineo posteri hic es of intelligently pondero genus, vel ut nos ferox discrepo per suum conclusions. Is verto est maximus; suus’ a ordinarius admonitio ut is medium est communal in suus informatio quod in suus victus, quod ut talis, a universus diversus bestia ex interventus ex quod blogs evolved.

Nos coepi OFB non simplex quoniam nos had quispiam loquor super Caps quod nostrum lusum tamen quoniam nos puto nos could ordine addo an rarus perturbatio pro utriusque ut nostrum uber. remuneror secui nobis, quod nos nunquam imagined permaneo cado ut nos coepi, supervenio per moments of iunctio per in- pius perturbatio latus per nostrum lector. Nos suscipio talis sententia is week, quod nos partis is vobis hic:

“Whenever vos scisco a Stipes opinio quare they tribuo tantillus intentio ut hockey, refero, invariably, est ut illic’ parum publicus penitus in lusum. Stultus mihi. EGO usquequaque puto lusum page eram volo ut exsisto iustus ut, a “ lusum” page, non a Redskins’ page vel a quisquis medium volo page. Caps es a legitiums professio lusum team, etiamnunc huic urbs they es sepius tracto amo a altus schola team. EGO teneo theyll’ nunquam exsisto Redskins, tamen est is nimium ut specto ut theyd’ exsisto donatus idem eadem idem amount of veneratio donatus ut Baltimore Orioles? EGO lego multus of sicco-of- urbs papers quod Id’ exsisto ferreus-pressed ut nomen alius urbs qua pro hockey team est sic penuriosus occulto, quod ut comprehendo sulum alius team in Inferus Divortium. Gratias ago Deus pro blogs amo vestri”

Suus’ vitally maximus nobis ut nostrum lector sentio amo stakeholders in OFB. Having an sententia super lusum est vulgaris. Having perturbatio, thoughtfully famen is, quod marshalling magis of is isnt’. Nos es valde fervidus super interventus undo erant’ tamen unus vegrandis surfboard intus. Erant’ pulchellus certus optimus veho es ahead nostrum, quod nos spes youll’ exsisto racing per superficies condeco lemma nobis.

Change est coming is estas, quod nos teneo team erorecidivus ut rutilus, niveus, quod puteulanus ut they planto permoveo ut novus “ similitudo ratio” Quis alius changes es coming?

Glacies Puella?

Tergum in January, Ted Leonsis famulor a Caps venatus procul Tampa quod eram infigo per venatus- dies aer, quod is memoratus Tampas’ utor of glacies puella quod cheerleaders. Is asked pro sententia in utor of glacies puella quod cheerleaders. Procul OFB, nos ran a capitagium super glacies puella quod praeter dimidium of respondeo erant in ventus of lemma.

Sequens video ex Dallas Astrum Glacies Puella dat nos a inviso suum officium ut they pulvis’ purgatio glacies shavings vel declinatioHenrik Lundqvist.

Plurrimi maximus estas in repens Lavatio Caput history est prope super nos. Prope, tamen nondum, quod in meantime nos satio nostrum hockey jones per Sto Vas playoffs. Pro tertius rectus season a Caps- minor playoffs, tamen huic coming off-season, nos totus spes juvenis- ut-veteran quod solers- ut-grit farrago es concocted subtilis, praecessi in a lascivio-caliber cocktail.

(Oh, velox Genu-jerks ex permaneo nox noctis: melior teams utriusque won in a wash, quod Rangers have moris’ have ultum of a chance si ut serius est accersitus via is eram permaneo nox noctis)

Sic, quis operor Caps have subinfero futurus a lascivio impleo, quod quam operor they operor is?

Quis: consentio videor futurus ut Lavatio postulo adipiscor sequens ludio ludius: an obscoena center, an obscoena tutaminis, a duos- via tutaminis, quod possibly a caput capitis six ustulo volatilis, potius dexter pars.

Quam: Proveho e, tunc per professio, tunc denique solvo procurator.

(persevero)

Pauci annus abhinc Jason La Canfora eram Lavatio Caput’ pello pepulli pulsum opinio pro Lavatio Stipes; pro preteritus iugo of annus hes’ occulto Redskins. Ut nimirum est caro ticket pro sportswriters procul ut paper. EGO wouldnt’ exsisto admiratio si is pensus praeter Pentagon pello pepulli pulsum.

Tergum ut La Canfora eram in hockey pello pepulli pulsum EGO verto email per him, sepius laudo him pro species of suus opus. EGO philologus ut is held hockey iuxta suus pectus pectoris, subsequens is prope ex suus juvenis in Baltimore.

In movie ‘ gratias ago Vos pro Smoking,’ Nick Naylor est presertim lobbyist quod valde publicus plumbum spokesperson pro Magnus Tobacco, puteus remunerated pro vallo indefensible. Quondam a week is prandium per “MOD Squad” — alius ego- exsequor “merchants of nex” lobbyists pro alcohol quod firearms. Procul varius cuspis in membrana hes’ asked super suus potestas ut vindico nuntius is cotidie does, ut illic’ haud link inter cigarette smoking quod cancer.

“nonaginta novem sentio of sane pro [ tutela] semita nos sumo est a caveo. . . Weve’ totus got a caveo ut pay,” is respondeo.

Coepi EGO wrote off La Canforas’ hockey exigo ut iustus alius permoveo ut melior curo caveo. Is fere certainly est. Tamen suus Redskins’ lima inyesterdays’ WaPost dedi mihi alius visum illius sententia.

Im’ non certus quis La Canfora reputo of Caps’ redivivus, tamen Im’ rationabiliter certus ut si Ted Leonsis had impono super prope 10 annus of lascivio GM of Caps quod vindico losing seasons per fere unfailing ordinarius ( rumpo tantum per mediocris ones), quod had is subsisto in teams’ pello pepulli pulsum, La Canfora would have accersitus in Leonsis in is.

Ut Ted Leonsis ne multus ludio ludius GM per Jaromir Jagr paciscor quod is deficio, is accersitus sui sicco quod certus ut aufero sui, forever, ex hockey alio pars of curo Caps. Illa dies, EGO admiratio quot Redskins’ fans would amo video vidi visum ut teams’ erus operor idem eadem idem res?

Tamen Im’ questus ahead of myself. Yesterday La Canforas’ plumbum lego:

“semel utpote iuxta permaneo annus’ NFL draft, Lavatio Redskins’ erus Daniel Snyder met per opinio yesterday quod laus procuratio of norma, professio suus fides ut stipes has amplio significantly is offseason.”

Quis insisto, predictably, est an uncritical ratio of Synders’ quondam-a- annus pow-wow per press sarcina. Statua si Leonsis had installed George McPhee ut a puppet GM, ut Snyder did per Tutela Casserly quod Testis Schottenheimer ( non bothering per a nomine tenus GM utpote) ( procul is cuspis, cuius’ left ut fossor?), quod led permaneo- locus perfectus preteritus duos seasons quod congruo reperio press quondam a annus. Reputo WaPost vires have quispiam velico loquor super ut?

In theca vos hadnt’ animadverto, NFL draft est captus locus is weekend, quod quondam iterum, Synder mos lascivio a plumbum persona in quos Tergum mos lego.

Can vos statua si congressional vindico pro NASA sententia themselves qualified rectum silicis?

Rhetoricus question: does ullus Tergum’ pello pepulli pulsum opinio in urbs have potestas ut velico CzarDanny, voco him sicco in suus ego- adduco Reign of Erroris?

Is weekend, absentis an 11th- hora paciscor, 5-11 Redskins sub GM Snyder have certe certo themselves unus lectio of primoris 142 football ludio ludius drafted. In annus duodeviginti of Danny, subtilis quis Carnotense tractus est burgandy quod aurum subsequens?

Magis maximus, quare sum EGO super solus guy in urbs asking is?

Denver, amo Lavatio, would have futurus exsequor ut a football- primoris quidam quaedam quedam quidam urbs. Orange Frendo quod totus. Is eram ut via pro John Elway supervenio. In January, dum recidivus ex res, EGO had a stopover illic quod eram perusing a Sunday emendo of Denver Stipes. Pyropus erant etiam lascivio football, tamen EGO eram pulsatus procul pondera of occulto of contendo lusum. EGO instituo a sizable sto- unus fabula of Denver Pioneers’ hockey venatus ex nox noctis pro. Alius, comparably amplitudo, pro Colo colui cultum Contraho Tigers’ hockey team quod suus praecessi ex Imbuo nox noctis. Avs had suus lima. Illic eram vel a quartus lima in hockey, penned per papers’ hockey columnist Atrox Frei. Per vicis EGO got ut ut John Denvers’ ‘ petrosus Mons montis Altus’ eram suggero an penitus soundtrack pro meus hockey pectus pectoris.

EGO eram having a propinquus congressus per pondera, professionalism journalism.

Inadvertently, Jason La Canfora yesterday held sursum a speculum ut suus novus norma’ truculenter warped novus pendo. GM Snyder — simultaneously a ususfructus quod a parody — has run a quondam- superbus suffragium in superstes cellar, deigns ut convoco per press quondam a annus, quod est rare si quando held accountable per interventus hic for his mayhem. But on 15th Street the next morning the above-the-fold beat goes on, fawning in its uncritical deference.

Journalistic malignancy.

At least there are warning labels on cigarette packs.

Seeking Mel Kiper-free TV?

Weary of all-baseball, all-the-time this spring?

How about a bit of world class puck to supplement Versus’ NHL Playoff coverage?

From USA Hockey:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Team USA’s games at the upcoming International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship will be available to viewers on Pay-Per-View through the World Championship Sports Network on DISH Network and on a subscription basis at www.wcsn.com. The U.S. Men’s National Team will compete at the 2007 IIHF World Championship in Moscow, Russia, April 27-May 13.

DISH Network’s all-inclusive package, which contains 14 total games, including all of Team USA’s contests, is $39.95. Visit www.dishnetwork.com/hockey for more information.

Fans will be able to watch all 56 games online at WSCN, where live and on-demand video of the tournament will be available for a $4.95 monthly subscription fee.

Team USA 2007 IIHF World Championship Schedule
Moscow, Russia • April 27-May 13

Stay Tuned.

This offseason should be one of great import for the Capitals, as its GM tries to assemble the pieces to solve the playoff puzzle. But no one doubts that the Capitals, in their current form, are not deserving of a playoff spot.

For some teams that missed the playoffs, however, much has been — and will be — made over their records and point totals. For example, from the Great White North one can hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the Toronto Maple Leafs, who finished nine games over .500 yet are golfing in April. Others can look to the West, and see the once-mighty Avalanche, who finished at 95 points and thirteen games over .500, jockeying for early tee times.

However, does the NHL’s W-L-OTL system truthfully represent a team’s record? Let us examine Toronto a bit more closely for a moment. Their record of 40-31-11 seems to indicate a team that played well above .500 for the season. Given that the NHL allows more than half its teams into the playoffs, one could understandably expect such a performance to lead to post-season play.

Ah, but doesn’t the “11″ in the third column indicate an additional eleven games that the team lost? Ask anyone who attended those games, and they will surely agree that they left the arena with the same deflated feeling one gets from a regulation loss. Perhaps they consoled themselves by saying, “Well, at least we got a point,” as I did at many Capitals games this year; but it certainly feels more like a loss than the old tie did.

The “Loser’s Point” may justifiably help a team in the standings. But this skewed method of representing a team’s record artificially inflates a team’s season performance.

It comes down to simple math: in general, a .500 record indicates average performance. The NFL, for instance, finished its 2006 season with 12 teams under .500, 8 teams at exactly .500, and 12 teams over .500. Those statistics form a neat (and mathmatically sound) bell curve. In 2005-06, the NBA finished with 13 teams over .500, 3 at .500, and 14 under .500. Again, nicely balanced.

The NHL, however, throws the law of averages to the wind with its current system. This season, fully 21 teams claim to be over .500 at the end; only nine cannot make the same claim. Last season was the same: 21 teams alleged they had “winning” records.

The NHL needs to establish a new way to track a team’s wins and losses. The league chose to do away with the tie… for better or worse, though that’s a debate for another day. The current system awards teams one point for losing in OT or the shootout — again, the merits of which are topics for a future debate.

But the league has been very clear with defining “OTL” as an Overtime Loss: It is a loss, regardless of whether the team gets a point or not. Not a tie, a loss.

Returning to the Leafs’ example, a truer representation of their performance would be as follows:

This approach would neatly indicate that the Leafs lost 42 games, and thus, more accurately, should be considered under .500. At a glance, fans could determine the number of games played at any point in the season by simply adding the W and L columns, with the OTL coming into play for calculating total points. Note that this is similar to how the league recorded OTLs back when ties were part of the game.

This small change would go a long way toward establishing accurate recordkeeping, and as a bonus would restore value to the concept of being over .500. Not to be discounted: it would also stop teams from trumpeting about being over .500 when, in fact, they do not have more wins than losses (the traditional “over .500″ implication).

This hockey devotee would like to see a little more truth in advertising when it comes to teams’ records. And while we’re at it, let’s give mathematics its due and embrace the bell curve — being “above average” should mean something.

The NHL calls an “overtime loss” a loss; so let’s count it as one.

If your notion of a rink’s ice sheet being created involves little more than cooled flooring and a fella standing on it and flooding it with a garden hose, prepare yourself to be disabused of that. A modest celebration is taking place today in Rockville, Md.’s, Cabin John Regional Park, where this spring more than 500 staff hours of planning, destruction, and resurrection of the park facility’s Olympic-sized ice sheet is culminating with the arrival of its first skater on the rehabilitated surface this morning. A part of the demolition and reconstruction team, I offer — with deeply callused hands and an ever-Advil-ed lower back — an insider’s chronicle of this arduous odyssey.

A final skater stepped off Cabin John’s Olympic sheet last Monday evening, April 16. He didn’t have a heck of a lot of ice to skate on then. A good three or four days earlier, Facility Manager Brian Borge instructed the rink’s Zamboni drivers to cut more ice than they created — in rink vernacular, cut heavy, lay light. He also adjusted the rink’s compressor to warm the slab of cooled cement upon which ice rests, to soften it and make its removal easier. The goal is to remove as much of the more than two inches (in places) of skating surface with the Zams as possible; more work by machines means less for the hands, shoulders, and lower backs of rink staff.

And serious staffing is needed for this project. From late at night on April 16 through Monday, April 23, Cabin John will have dedicated teams of six or more rink staffers to eight-hour shifts of rink take-down and build-up beginning at 7:00 a.m. each day and ending near 11:00 each evening.

Why go through all this effort? Rinks, like other recreational venues, endure wear and tear. They age. They endure the jumps and hard landings of freestyle skaters, the furious stops and starts of recreational hockey players, 500-plus skaters on public skating sessions every weekend in the heart of winter. Worst of all, they are met a dozen or more times a day by the Zamboni blade, one of the sharpest pieces of steel on Earth.

It’s a delicate balance — of 1-to-2 inches — maintaining quality ice in the Mid-Atlantic through four seasons of weather and energy surges and heavy use by skaters morning, noon, and night. But it’s anything but delicate (for the most part) taking the surface down and getting its replacement back up, and it’s performed within a rigid and unyielding calendar.

The difference between the appearance of an ice surface in its final hours and that which replaces it a week later is breathtaking in its brightness and its shine and its shimmer. It helps fuel the commitment of the correcting crew and mitigate the aggravating ache they endure. (Continued)

The story of Jared Murray, an eight-year-old banned from Quebec-based league Hockey Outaouais, has made the rounds north of the border. Despite being the appropriate age for the league, Murray is “too big and too talented” according the league’s officials . . . and thus they banned him (which seems a bit extreme, non?). Yet is that really the reason for the league’s decision to ban a boy of eight?

Many believe that this the league is punishing Murray for the apparent anti-French attitudes of his home town: Shawville, population 1,800, one of the few English-first places in Francophone Quebec.

The French vs. English tension of the province is well known and widely reported; but never have I seen the petty arguments impact a mere child so, denying him one of the few things that Canada’s English- and French-speakers alike can agree upon: the joys of playing hockey.

Kudos to Gare Joyce for getting this story onto ESPN.com.

Who would have guessed that in a 6-5 game Alexandre Giroux would have been held off the scoresheet? Jacub Klepis, however, was not — he had three helpers tonight. Chris Bourque skated a +3 on the evening. The Bears, who now own a 2-1 lead in the series, overcame Albany’s 43-24 advantage in shots.

Game 4 is Monday night.